HISD: 9 campuses relocated due to Harvey; most schools to begin Sept. 11

HOUSTON - The Houston Independent School District superintendent and the Board of Trustees said Thursday all campuses were affected by Hurricane Harvey to some degree and that the district's back-to-school dates for the upcoming school year will be released soon.

Superintendent Richard Carranza and the Board of Education trustees announced at a press conference when the 215,000 students and 31,000 employees will return to school.

Work has started at 215 of the 283 campuses and air quality testing will be ongoing at all campuses.

"There is not one facility that was not impacted to some degree by Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath as well," Carranza said. "Some of them were minimal, which constitutes cleaning up, drying off, wiping down, and some of the schools that are impacted are much, much more severe(ly). In fact some of those schools will probably not open for the rest of this school year."

Students at nine campuses will need to be relocated, likely for the remainder of the school year, and will start Sept. 25:

Scarborough ES

Hilliard ES

Robinson ES

Mitchell ES

Kolter ES

Braeburn ES

Askew ES

Burbank MS

Liberty HS

Carranza said the district will work with its principals to create a plan to transport students to school.

"Our plan is the have transportation that will be able to pick up students," Carranza said. "In some cases they will be transported to schools that perhaps aren't the home school but are the closest schools. In some cases, we will be able to get them to their home school. But again, we are relaxing some of those enrollment issues. We want students back in school."

Families are asked to call their school principals to let them know their situation so that the district can work with them to get students back to school.

There are 303 school and office buildings across a span of 312 square miles that are being assessed. Construction began on 215 schools. The district's primary focus is to make the schools safe, clean and secure.

Teachers at schools that start on Sept. 11 should report to their school Friday to clean up their classroom.

Teachers at schools opening later will undergo trauma training.

"Our plan is that all schools are open at the latest by Sept. 25," Carranza said. "One of the biggest lessons learned in this event is that we have to be patient, and we have to be flexible. We have crews by the hour updating the list of schools starting, certifying that they're clean, safe and secure."